1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to high density configurations of information technology equipment.
2. Background of the Related Art
Modern data centers support the operation of large numbers of servers and other information technology equipment. Centralizing this equipment in a data center allows for efficiencies in both systems administration and facilities management. However, existing data centers have limited space for installing additional capacity.
A multi-server chassis is a common configuration of servers that operate a high number of servers in a small and efficient amount of space. A multi-server chassis, such as a blade server chassis, can accommodate and support multiple independent servers that are connected to each other and to a management module across a backplane through an Ethernet switch. The management module manages communication among the blade servers, as well as communication between the blade servers and an external Ethernet network.
FIG. 1 is a diagram of the layout of a conventional blade server system 10. As shown, the blade server system 10 includes a blade server chassis 12 having a plurality of adjacent bays for receiving a plurality of uniform blade servers 14. The blade server system will typically also include power modules, fan modules, a network interconnect, and a network switch that are not shown.